Thursday, 25-Apr-2002

Story from AFP

JAKARTA, April 25 (AFP) - A group of Indonesian Falun Gong practitioners on Thursday filed a 539,000 dollar suit against the Chinese embassy in Jakarta for urging police to cancel their rally here last month.

The 5.01 billion rupiah lawsuit, filed by the Indonesian Falun Gong Association (HFGI) at the South Jakarta District Court, was based on the "intervention by Chinese embassy officials" during the group's rally on March 3, said the head of the group, Liman Kurniawan.

"At the time of the event, we had secured police permission and yet they revoked it due to an intervention by the embassy officials," Kurniawan told AFP.

Chinese embassy officials have confirmed that they approached police and government officials about the planned march [...].

The group however managed to stage a six-hour peaceful rally outside the embassy the following day.

[...]

A press attache at the Chinese embassy here told AFP that the mission "has not yet heard of such a lawsuit and will learn more about this".

China outlawed the Falun Gong in July 1999, calling it the biggest threat to social stability since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

Since the ban, rights groups estimate hundreds of Falun Gong [practitioners] have been jailed and tens of thousands sent to labour camps.

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ag/Qindonesia-china-sect.RbTi_CAP.html